Que hay de nuevo en asimetria cerebral?

2015-2016
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Düsing, R., Tops, M., Radtke, E. L., Kuhl, J., & Quirin, M. (2016). Relative frontal
brain asymmetry and cortisol release after social stress: The role of action
orientation. Biological psychology, 115, 86-93.

Social evaluation is a potent stressor and consistently leads to an activation of the

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system. Here, we investigated whether individual
differences in action orientation influence the relationship between the cortisol response
to social-evaluative threat and relative left frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha
asymmetry as a brain marker of approach motivation. Forty-nine participants were
exposed to a camera-based variant of the Trier Social Stress Task while salivary cortisol
and resting EEG frontal alpha asymmetry were assessed before and after stress
induction. Higher relative left frontal activity was associated with higher changes in
cortisol levels as measured by the area under curve with respect to increase, particularly
in individuals low in action orientation. We discuss the role of the left frontal cortex in
coping, the potential role of oxytocin, and negative health consequences when the left-
frontal coping process becomes overstrained.

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Mendrek, A., & Mancini-Marïe, A. (2015). Sex/gender differences in the brain and
cognition in schizophrenia. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

The early conceptualizations of schizophrenia have noted some sex/gender differences

in epidemiology and clinical expression of the disorder. Over the past few decades, the
interest in differences between male and female patients has expanded to encompass
brain morphology and neurocognitive function. Despite some variability and
methodological shortcomings, a few patterns emerge from the available literature. Most
studies of gross neuroanatomy show more enlarged ventricles and smaller frontal lobes
in men than in women with schizophrenia; finding reflecting normal sexual dimorphism.
In comparison, studies of brain asymmetry and specific corticolimbic structures, suggest
a disturbance in normal sexual dimorphism. The neurocognitive findings are somewhat
consistent with this picture. Studies of cognitive functions mediated by the lateral frontal
network tend to show sex differences in patients which are in the same direction as
those observed in the general population, whereas studies of processes mediated by the
corticolimbic system more frequently reveal reversal of normal sexual dimorphisms.
These trends are faint and future research would need to delineate neurocognitive
differences between men and women with various subtypes of schizophrenia (e.g., early
versus late onset), while taking into consideration hormonal status and gender of tested
participants.
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Ocklenburg, S., Güntürkün, O., Hugdahl, K., & Hirnstein, M. (2015). Laterality and
mental disorders in the postgenomic age–A closer look at schizophrenia and
language lateralization. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 59, 100-110.
Most people are right-handed and show left-hemispheric language lateralization, but a
minority exhibits left-handedness and right-hemispheric language lateralization. This
atypical laterality pattern is observed significantly more often in schizophrenia patients
than in the general population, which led several authors to conclude that there is a
genetic link between laterality and schizophrenia. It has even been suggested that a
failure in the lateralization process, orchestrated by genes, could be the primary cause of
schizophrenia. However, the molecular genetic evidence for a link between laterality and
schizophrenia is weak. Recent genetic evidence indicates that schizophrenia is not a
single disorder but a group of heritable disorders caused by different genotypic networks
leading to distinct clinical symptoms. To uncover the link between schizophrenia and
laterality we therefore suggest a paradigm shift where genetics are not mapped on
schizophrenia as a whole but on discrete schizophrenia symptoms. In addition, we
provide a critical evaluation of current theories on the genetic link between schizophrenia
and brain asymmetry.
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S. Häberling, I., & Corballis, M. C. (2015). Cerebellar asymmetry, cortical
asymmetry and handedness: Two independent networks. Laterality: Asymmetries
of Body, Brain and Cognition, 1-18.

In 46 right-handers and 46 left-handers, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging

to record activity in the frontal lobes while they generated words, the temporal lobe while
they made synonym judgments, and the parietal lobe while they watched videos of
manual actions. In each case we also recorded activity in the cerebellum. Laterality
indices showed a significant left-hemispheric bias in each cortical lobe and a right-
hemispheric bias in the cerebellum for the 2 language tasks, but not during action
observation. Cerebellar asymmetry also correlated negatively with frontal and temporal
asymmetry, reflecting contralateral connections, but not with parietal asymmetry. A
factor analysis of the inter-correlations among laterality indices revealed 2 factors,
implying independent lateralized networks, with cerebellar asymmetry strongly linked to
a language network in frontal and temporal cortices, and handedness strongly linked to
an action-observation network in the parietal lobe.
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Häberling, I. S., Steinemann, A., & Corballis, M. C. (2016). Cerebral asymmetry for
language: Comparing production with comprehension. Neuropsychologia, 80, 17-
23.

Although left-hemispheric damage can impair both the production and comprehension of
language, it has been claimed that comprehension is more bilaterally represented than is
production. A variant of this theme is based on the theory that different aspects of
language are processed by a dorsal stream, responsible for mapping words to
articulation, and a ventral stream for processing input for meaning. Some have claimed
that the dorsal stream is left-hemispheric, while the ventral stream is bilaterally
organized. We used fMRI to record activation while left- and right-handed participants
performed covert word-generation task and judged whether word pairs were synonyms.
Regions of interest were Broca's area as part of the dorsal stream and the superior and
middle temporal gyri as part of the ventral stream. Laterality indices showed equal left-
hemispheric lateralization in Broca's area for word generation and both Broca's area and
temporal lobe for the synonym judgments. Handedness influenced laterality equally in
each area and task, with right-handers showing stronger left-hemispheric dominance
than left-handers. Although our findings provide no evidence that asymmetry is more
pronounced for production than for comprehension, correlations between the tasks and
regions of interest support the view that lateralization in the temporal lobe depends on
feedback influences from frontal regions.
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Duboc, V., Dufourcq, P., Blader, P., & Roussigné, M. (2015). Asymmetry of the
Brain: Development and Implications. Annual review of genetics, 49, 647-672.

Although the left and right hemispheres of our brains develop with a high degree of
symmetry at both the anatomical and functional levels, it has become clear that subtle
structural differences exist between the two sides and that each is dominant in
processing specific cognitive tasks. As the result of evolutionary conservation or
convergence, lateralization of the brain is found in both vertebrates and invertebrates,
suggesting that it provides significant fitness for animal life. This widespread feature of
hemispheric specialization has allowed the emergence of model systems to study its
development and, in some cases, to link anatomical asymmetries to brain function and
behavior. Here, we present some of what is known about brain asymmetry in humans
and model organisms as well as what is known about the impact of environmental and
genetic factors on brain asymmetrydevelopment. We specifically highlight the progress
made in understanding the development of epithalamic asymmetries in zebrafish and
how this model provides an exciting opportunity to address brain asymmetry at different
levels of complexity.

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Westerhausen, R., Bless, J., & Kompus, K. (2015). Behavioral laterality and aging:
the free-recall dichotic-listening right-ear advantage increases with
age.Developmental neuropsychology, 40(5), 313-327.

The effect of aging on brain asymmetry was studied under consideration of possible
confounding effects of known age-related decline in higher cognitive functioning. In a
sample of 3,680 participants aged 20-79 years, laterality was assessed with a verbal,
free-recall dichotic-listening paradigm with one stimulus pair presentation per trial,
minimizing working-memory and cognitive-control demands during task performance.
Laterality, reflected as right-ear preference for dichotic stimuli, was found to be
increased in older age (above 60 years). This effect was due to a reduced report of left-
ear stimuli, while the report of right-ear stimuli stayed on comparable levels across all
ages.

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Santarnecchi, E., Tatti, E., Rossi, S., Serino, V., & Rossi, A. (2015). Intelligence‐
related differences in the asymmetry of spontaneous cerebral activity. Human
brain mapping, 36(9), 3586-3602.
Recent evidence suggests the spontaneous BOLD signal synchronization of
corresponding interhemispheric, homotopic regions as a stable trait of human brain
physiology, with emerging differences in such organization being also related to some
pathological conditions. To understand whether such brain functional symmetries play a
role into higher-order cognitive functioning, here we correlated the functional homotopy
profiles of 119 healthy subjects with their intelligence level. Counterintuitively, reduced
homotopic connectivity in above average-IQ versus average-IQ subjects was observed,
with significant reductions in visual and somatosensory cortices, supplementary motor
area, rolandic operculum, and middle temporal gyrus, possibly suggesting that a
downgrading of interhemispheric talk at rest could be associated with higher cognitive
functioning. These regions also showed an increased spontaneous synchrony with
medial structures located in ipsi- and contralateral hemispheres, with such pattern being
mostly detectable for regions placed in the left hemisphere. The interactions with age
and gender have been also tested, with different patterns for subjects above and below
25 years old and less homotopic connectivity in the prefrontal cortex and posterior
midline regions in female participants with higher IQ scores. These findings support prior
evidence suggesting a functional role for homotopic connectivity in human cognitive
expression, promoting the reduction of synchrony between primary sensory regions as a
predictor of higher intelligence levels.
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Wolf, S., Brölz, E., Keune, P. M., Wesa, B., Hautzinger, M., Birbaumer, N., & Strehl,
U. (2015). Motor skill failure or flow-experience? Functional brain asymmetry and
brain connectivity in elite and amateur table tennis players. Biological
psychology, 105, 95-105.

Functional hemispheric asymmetry is assumed to constitute one underlying

neurophysiological mechanism of flow-experience and skilled psycho-motor
performance in table tennis athletes. We hypothesized that when initiating motor
execution during motor imagery, elite table tennis players show higher right- than left-
hemispheric temporal activity and stronger right temporal-premotor than left temporal-
premotor theta coherence compared to amateurs. We additionally investigated, whether
less pronounced left temporal cortical activity is associated with more world rank points
and more flow-experience. To this aim, electroencephalographic data were recorded in
14 experts and 15 amateur table tennis players. Subjects watched videos of an
opponent serving a ball and were instructed to imagine themselves responding with a
specific table tennis stroke. Alpha asymmetry scores were calculated by subtracting left
from right hemispheric 8-13 Hz alpha power. 4-7 Hz theta coherence was calculated
between temporal (T3/T4) and premotor (Fz) cortex. Experts showed a significantly
stronger shift towards lower relative left-temporal brain activity compared to amateurs
and a significantly stronger right temporal-premotor coherence than amateurs. The shift
towards lower relative left-temporal brain activity in experts was associated with more
flow-experience and lower relative left temporal activity was correlated with more world
rank points. The present findings suggest that skilled psycho-motor performance in elite
table tennis players reflect less desynchronized brain activity at the left hemisphere and
more coherent brain activity between fronto-temporal and premotor oscillations at the
right hemisphere. This pattern probably reflect less interference of irrelevant
communication of verbal-analytical with motor-control mechanisms which implies flow-
experience and predict world rank in experts.
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Keune, P. M., Wiedemann, E., Schneidt, A., & Schönenberg, M. (2015). Frontal
brain asymmetry in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):
Extending the motivational dysfunction hypothesis. Clinical
Neurophysiology, 126(4), 711-720.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves motivational dysfunction,

characterized by excessive behavioral approach tendencies. Frontal brain asymmetry in
the alpha band (8-13 Hz) in resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) represents a
neural correlate of global motivational tendencies, and abnormal asymmetry, indicating
elevated approach motivation, was observed in pediatric and adult patients. To date, the
relation between ADHD symptoms, depression and alpha asymmetry, its temporal
metric properties and putative gender-specificity remain to be explored.
METHODS:
Adult ADHD patients (n=52) participated in two resting-state EEG recordings, two weeks
apart. Asymmetry measures were aggregated across recordings to increase trait
specificity. Putative region-specific associations between asymmetry, ADHD symptoms
and depression, its gender-specificity and test-retest reliability were examined.
RESULTS:
ADHD symptoms were associated with approach-related asymmetry (stronger relative
right-frontal alpha power). Approach-related asymmetry was pronounced in females, and
also associated with depression. The latter association was mediated by ADHD
symptoms. Test-retest reliability was sufficient.
CONCLUSIONS:
The association between reliably assessable alpha asymmetry and ADHD symptoms
supports the motivational dysfunction hypothesis. ADHD symptoms mediating an
atypical association between asymmetry and depression may be attributed to
depression arising secondary to ADHD. Gender-specific findings require replication.
SIGNIFICANCE:
Frontal alpha asymmetry may represent a new reliable marker of ADHD symptoms.
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